Life's Forgotten Promises
by Amethystlover02
Summary: Another story about Palladium. When Aiden Palladium goes to the homeland of his friend, Haldir, for the summer, he gets more than he bargained for than just a vacation. This takes place after the first season of Winx Club and about 1,000 years after the One Ring was destroyed (I think, still working on the time line). Bloom comes in later and becomes a part of the story.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey Guys! I'm back and with more chapters and even a new story! I do apologize for the long wait, but I just recently got the internet back and it is slower then heck. So please bare with me on this and I promise to have everything updated and more chapters made as well. **

**This is another story on Palladium. I'm still keeping his name from GOI, Aiden, because it saves me the hastle from finding a different name and keeps me from getting confused. Avalon is in this story as well with the name Devon. I have been working on this story for over a month now and have at least four chapters waiting to be updated. This is my first Lord of the Rings story and will not be my last for I am going through a phase with it.**

**I hope you enjoy this story and I hope to have more done soon!**

**Chapter 1 The Joys Summer Brings**

The early afternoon sun shone golden light streaks through the curtains of my bedroom window, waking me up from a surprisingly dreamless sleep. Usually my sleep was full of dreams about a never ending forest, a locked room, a dark prison, and a man with blond hair. But for some reason, my sleep the night before was dreamless. Maybe it had something to do with being back home after living at Alfea for the school year. The dreams always seemed the strongest when I was there. I sighed and sat up in bed. For whatever reason my mind decided to let me sleep without dreams that night, I didn't complain on the account that I got a good night sleep and didn't wake up in a cold sweat.

I yawned, threw back the covers, and got out of bed. As I walked to the bathroom to ready for the day, I thought about how much I've missed being able to sleep in. During the school year, I had to wake up at the creak of dawn to teach a bunch of teenage fairies who never paid attention to my class. Or they pretended to pay attention while they passed notes or did other things they thought I never knew they were doing. Like I'm _that_ stupid. But even if I did say something to them, they would never listen. I learned that lesson the hard way. I would catch them and tell them to stop, but as soon as I got back to the lessons, they would go back to doing what they were doing. After the fifth time, I stopped caring and just pretended not to notice. If they failed my class, why should I give a shit? It would be their own fault and it would only hurt them, not me.

Though getting up at an ungodly hour and the actual teaching were pains in my ass, the worst part of the job _had_ to be not being able to smoke. Alfea was a completely smoke free environment, and I was not allowed to smoke anywhere on the school's grounds no matter _how _much I begged. If I wanted to smoke, I had to go all the way into Magix, which I could only do on the weekends or if I had time after classes had ended. Haldir, my long-time friend, said I had to be the only elf in the entire existence of elves that smoked. But in my defense, I was also the only elf that worked as a teacher and the only elf that lived on earth, two of the most stressful things ever. The last time I had a cigarette was three weeks ago, before final exams. After that time, I simply had no time of my own to travel to Magix for a smoke. To make the matters worse, I had smoked my last cigarette on that day and didn't get a chance to buy a new pack, so I couldn't even smoke now.

Three whole weeks without a cigarette. Won't Haldir be proud of me, I thought with a groan as I turned on the shower and got in.

Oh well. Summer was here and with summer came me being able to go back home to earth, sleeping in until the afternoon, smoking where ever and whenever I damn well pleased, and best of all, the visit of Haldir. Haldir was an elf just like me and one of my best friends. He came from a place he said was called Lothiorien, a place I've never heard of. One time I asked him where it was located, for I along with my other best friend Devon Avalon have tried to find it in countless numbers of books Alfea and other places had and have been unsuccessful. He told me it was just another elven place in the sticks. I had no idea what to make of that, so I just nodded and never brought it up again.

However, he brought it up every summer he came to visit, but in a different way.

Every summer for the ten years I've known him, after the first week he was here, he would ask me if I wanted to spend the summer in Lothiorien. And every summer, I turned down the offer. It wasn't that I wanted to be rude or that I wasn't interested in seeing his home, it's just that…I wasn't into traveling. It was enough that I had to travel back and forth to Magix from Earth. I told him this every time he asked me and every time he looked like he didn't believe me. But he never questioned about it again after he asked and we would continue on from where we left off: reading on my deck in the sun, staying up past midnight watching horror movies I owned, him watching me sketch one of my pictures, listening to music, me teaching him how to dance to certain songs then laughing at his attempts to recreate my dance moves, and just talking about what was going on in our lives.

I took longer in the shower than what I normally did. Just because I could. I always loved how the hot water relaxed my sore muscles but when I was at Alfea, I didn't have enough time in the shower that I would have liked. Knowing now that I had no classes waiting for me once I got out, I took my time in washing my hair and body. Once I was through, I was about to get out when a thought suddenly came into my mind and caused me to stop. I don't know why the thought caused me to stop, but once I did, I stepped back under the warm water. A new feeling came over my body, the feeling that I have felt so many times before in my life and could never explain it. It was the feeling of a memory I didn't know I had beginning to replay in my head. I close my eyes and allow my mind slowly began to wander into the memory…

_I am no longer in my home, but in a forest. I am no longer in the shower, but a small pond. The water that fell upon my head was no longer a shower, but a waterfall. A waterfall that had water as warm as a summer's day. Long hours in the sun would cause that. A waterfall only _I_ knew about. I stand under the fall of warm water and wash my body, thinking about how good the warm liquid feels against my body that was sore from an event that was unknown to me. The trees around the small pool were all I needed to keep my naked form from the seeing eyes of wanderers, but they weren't ever any really. They never came out this way. They would never dare to venture into _my_ forest. I'm alone…no wait…I see someone. A woman…no…a man. I see a man hiding in the trees. It was hard not to see him when the sunlight shined on what it could of him through the trees. His blond hair caught the small amount of sunlight easily and made it shine like well polished silver through the trees. He is watching me. I'm not afraid. I knew all along he was there. He was always there…watching me…_

*RRRIIINNNGGG*

I am taken from my thoughts and find myself back in the shower. I blinked and looked around for the sound that was responsible for taking me out of my thoughts. What the hell was that?

*RRRIIINNNGGG*

I pull back the curtain and find I can hear it much better. It was coming from out of the bathroom. It took me a second to figure out what it was and where its origin was. Oh, shit.

*RRRIIINNNGGG*

I turn the shower off and grabbed a towel. Without whipping myself down, I wrap the fuzzy cloth around my tanned body and as quick as I can run out of the bathroom and towards my room. I almost slipped on the hard wooden floors, but quickly caught myself and continued on. I reached my room and grabbed my ringing phone. I smiled when I read the caller ID: Devon Avalon.

*RRRIIIN-*

"Hello?" I asked once I answered.

"Aiden!" came a deep voice from the other end, a voice I knew too well and loved so much. "My dear friend, how are you?" I smiled and moved to put my shoulder against the phone to keep it against my ear so I could use my arms to dry myself.

"I'm good, Devon," I answer, "thanks for asking. How about you?"

"Pretty good," came his answer, "You're never going to believe what happened." My eyes widen and my head perked up, causing me to stop what I was doing.

"What?"

"I got the job at Alfea!" Once I registered what he had said, I was unsure how to react.

"Really?" I asked once I finally found my voice and walked to my closet to grab clothing.

"Yes, Sir," he said, "Next fall, I'll be the newest teacher at Alfea." I had to chuckle at his excitement. I was the same way when I first heard I was hired, then found myself wishing I hadn't been hired after only one week of teaching.

"That's nice, Devon," I said as I grabbed a pair of dark blue jeans that were folded up on the floor of my closet. I then grabbed for my favorite dark green t-shirt with the scattered leaves design that was on a hanger. "So, what will you be teaching?"

"Magiphilosophy," he said, "the same thing I was teaching at the other school."

"Uh-huh," I said as I pulled my shirt over my head then fasten my jeans' button.

"What do you teach again, Aiden?" he asked me as I sat on my bed fully dressed now.

"Potionology," I replied, "and magic charms, though I don't think the students who take my class would be able to tell you that. Those girls wouldn't pay attention even if their live depended on it, I'm willing to bet. Not to mention they make me so nervous sometimes. You know how I get when I get too nervous; I'm someone who's on the edge of a nervous breakdown." I laid down on my bed and rested my head against the pillows as I said this. Devon laughed at my statement. I found myself laughing with him.

"Well, once I get there, I'll help you straighten those girls out," he said once he stopped laughing. I stopped laughing as well and sighed.

"Are you sure you wanna work at Alfea?" I asked him, "It's not all that cracked up to be. A lot of the students may be bad, but the worst part is the place is a fucking smoke free place and you would have to go all the way to Magix in order to smoke. It's pretty miserable."

"Well, then we can be miserable together," he answered after a moment, "they say misery loves company." We laughed for a while at that statement.

"They're damn right about that," I said as I started to sit up, "Well, I'm glad you got the job, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to let you go. I'm expecting company soon."

"Oh, yes," Devon replied, "Your friend who always visits you during the summer from that place we could never find. I tell you, that whole day of going to library after library and going through book after book after book was by far the worst day ever. What was your friend's name? I feel terrible; I keep forgetting it even though I hung out with him and you all last summer."

"Haldir," I answered, "and don't feel bad; you only saw him for the summer."

"Yes, but still," he said, "Haldir, nice guy. I remembered when you introduced us last summer. Boy was _that_ summer ever great." Oh, I had almost forgotten about what we had done last summer. I laughed at the memories that soon started to fill my head. Devon was right; it _was_ a great summer.

"Ha, yeah it was," I said as I remembered all the things we did together…and all the trouble we could have gotten into if we were ever caught in the act of doing some of the things. "We should do that again this summer. That was awesome."

"Yes we should," he agreed with a laugh, "But I don't know if I'll be able to do it all summer, Aiden. I would really like some time to prepare for the school year. I'll call you either later on today or tomorrow so we can talk about meeting for figuring out our summer plans out, ok?"

"Alright then," I said, "Bye, Devon."

"Bye, Aiden."

I hung up the phone and thought of all the things the three of us could do this summer. I got up from my bed, grabbed my towel, and walked out to the hallway…only to slip and fall flat on my ass. After I recovered from the shock, I slowly got up and looked at the floor. There were huge puddles of water from when I had rushed out of the shower without drying myself. I sighed and snapped my fingers. The puddles faded into nothing at once. As soon as they were gone, I chuckled to myself. If only those girls had paid attention in my class instead of goofing off and giving the teacher a hard time. The things I had to teach could come in handy at any given point in time. As I walked into the bathroom to hang up my towel, I thought then briefly about my students then about my slip.

Boy am I ever grateful they weren't around to see that.

**Poor Palladium:( Always happens to him. What do you guys think so far? Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 The Arrival of a Friend

It was a good thing I decided to end the conversation with Devon when I did, because not three minutes after I got off the phone my doorbell rang. I smiled and hurried to finish preparing the guest room before I ran down the stairs to the first floor. I slowed my run to a speed walk on my way to the door. Through the glass window I could already see the friend I had been waiting for. I opened the door and there in its place stood Haldir.

He was a tall elf with a nicely built frame, light gray eyes, and silver blond hair that reached down well past his shoulders even though it was pulled back into a half pony tail. He was extremely handsome, as most elves were, but out of all the ones I've seen, he had to be the most handsome. He was wearing a silvery blue tunic that had a silver belt around his waist and dark brown leggings with knee high boots. Normally when he first gets to Earth, he doesn't change out of his elven clothing till he gets to my house, which is always fine by me. It came as a shock to me the first few times he visited, but now I have grown use to it and even at times finding myself wishing I had such clothing.

When he saw me, Haldir smiled like he hadn't smiled in a long time.

"Aiden, mellon-nin," he said as he widen his arms, inviting me to embrace him. I gladly excepted and fell into his warm, large hug. "It is so good to see you." I wrapped my own arms around him and pulled him closer to me.

"It's good to see you as well, Haldir," I said as we broke our embrace and I invited him inside. "Welcome," I said while I beckoned him into my house. "You may go ahead to your usual room and get a change if clothes. You must be exhausted from your trip." He turned to me with a smile.

"No, Aiden," he said, "quite the opposite, actually. I have a tone of energy left in me." His smile then faded into more of a smile of sadness. That can't be a good thing.

"What is it, mellon-nin?" I asked with concern in my voice.

"I'm so sorry, Aiden," he began with a sigh, "but I'm afraid I cannot stay the entire summer as I always have. Some things have come up in Lothiorien, and I'm going to be needed back soon." I felt my heart drop. He couldn't stay for the whole summer? Well, that just totally sucks! Now who was suppose to scream while watching horror movies with me and try to badly recreate the dance moves I teach? Devon couldn't do any of those things. He never screamed during a horror film no matter what happened and could always do whatever dance move I taught to him, so he wasn't going to be the best replacement. Plus, he was going to be busy for most of the summer preparing for his new teaching job, so that meant I would be by myself for a good chunk of the summer.

I sighed and broke myself away from my thoughts and turned to my friend.

"So, how long are you able to stay?" I ask, though I am afraid of the answer.

"For the rest of the month," he answered sadly, "then I have to go back to Lothiorien and give my kin a hand in keeping things in line." The rest of the month would only be about three weeks. Compared to how long he usually stayed, that didn't seem very long at all.

Oh, this was going to suck so much.

He must have been able to read my expression, because he gave me a look of forced happiness.

"Hey," he said as he put his hand on my shoulder, "just be thankful that I was allowed to come at all. At first I wasn't too sure I would have been able to, but Lady Galadriel allowed me to go only for the rest of the month. She said things could be handled without me till then." I sucked in the air through my mouth then released it out my nose. Haldir's words only provided a small amount of comfort for me. Even though I was grateful that he was able to stay for a while, my disappointment for him having to leave early was strong. "This still troubles you," I'm taken from my thoughts and find myself staring into the concerned eyes of my friend.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Haldir," I said as I shake my head, "I know I should be grateful that you're able to stay at all, but I can't help myself. I want you to stay for the whole summer like always. I'm a greedy bastard. It comes from living on Earth." Haldir smiles then pats my shoulder a few times and chuckles lightly before he starts to walk towards the stairs.

"I get it, Aiden," he says before he starts up towards the second floor, "and there's no need for apologies. I would probably be the same way if it were the other way around. But we can't do anything about it, so we may as well enjoy the time we do have instead of complaining about the time we do not have." I smiled small and nodded as he turned to walk up the stairs to the guest room. I sighed and walked into the kitchen to make some tea. Once I reached the kitchen, I went straight to the cupboard that was closest to the stove and grabbed a kettle. As I leaned against the sink waiting for the pot to fill up with water, I wandered into thought.

_We may as well enjoy the time we do have instead of complaining about the time we do not have. _

Sounds like something you'd find on a poster in a guidance consoler's office. I turn off the water and take the pot out of the sink. I bring the kittle over to the stove and put it on one of the burners and turned on the burner. Haldir was never much of a philosopher, but there were times where he would surprise me with his words. I walked over to the pantry cupboard and looked on the top shelf for my packages of tea and began to go through the choices.

Oolong…nope, Earl Grey…nun uh, Classic Britain…nah, Green Tea…maybe later, Passion…when and why the fuck did I buy _that_ shit? Chi-Tea! Perfect!

I grabbed the package and brought it over to the island that was in the middle of the kitchen. I then bent down to one knee and began to search through the cupboards that the island had on its sides for my tea pot. Because there wasn't anything really in those cupboards, it didn't take me long to find the black polished pot. I grabbed it and set it next to the package of tea. I opened the package and took out two tea bags and placed them into the pot, then closed the package and put it back in the cupboard. I then walked over to the cupboard that I keep my dishes in and pulled out two black mugs. I set them by the tea pot and wait for the water in the kettle to heat up. I sigh, lean against the island, reached into my front pocket for my lighter then into my back pocket for…I stop when I feel nothing in the pocket. I groan loudly.

Shit, that's right; I'm out of cigarettes.

I pull back then shove the lighter back into my front pocket when I realize I have no use for it. My thoughts then went back to the memory I had when I was in the shower; the memory that the phone call from Devon had broken me out of. I guess I should have known there was going to be some sort of catch to my dreamless sleep last night. I didn't have a lot of these memories during the day, but when I did, I usually had them either on my porch while looking at the woods that surrounded my house or when I was on a walk in the woods. While I had most of the dreams at Alfea, once in a full blue moon did I have the memories there. In fact I had one just this past year. When I took my freshmen class on a trip to the Black Mud Swamp, I had one while waiting for the girls to find the clearing. I was sitting high in a tree with a bow in my hands, watching someone with a rather large knife enter the forest I was in. I reached for an arrow that was in a pouch on my back and arraigned it on the bow. I don't know how, but for some reason I knew this intruder meant harm to the forest before he even started to cut some of the plants down with a knife out of his own enjoyment. I drew back the arrow and pointed the tip at the man, but before I could shoot, I was taken from the thought by one of my students who had made it to the clearing with their group.

The one I had in the shower was a new one. I usually had the same ones about me either watching and preparing to kill someone who entered the forest or just walking along a trail in the forest making sure everything was ok. This was the first one I had about the pond and also the first one I had with the blond haired man. I saw him plenty of times in my dreams, but never in my memories. Who was that man? Why did I dream about him? What did that mean? What did the dreams and memories mean all together…

*WHHIIIISSSSTTLLEE*

The loud whistle that came from the kittle broke me from my thoughts and made me jump. I sighed and walked over to the stove and turned off the burner. I then grabbed a pot holder and with its help removed the kittle from the stove to bring it to the island. I started to pour the hot water into the pot when I heard footsteps coming towards the kitchen.

"Have I ever told you how much I love your house?" asked Haldir as he came into the kitchen. I looked at him and saw him now wearing jeans and a gray hoddie over a light blue shirt. His hair was pulled back into a low pony tail. I smiled and sat the kittle back down on the stove so it would cool.

"Only every time you come over," I replied and he laughed while I poured some of the tea into a mug and offered it to him before pouring myself some.

"Well, I mean it," he said as he took a sip, "out of all the houses I've seen on this planet, your house is probably the closest thing to an elven home." I felt my eyebrows raise at that statement. Well, I didn't need to know what the homes of other elves looked like to know that was true, because I _was_ an elf. I like living in the woods and having a tone of windows that allowed sunlight into my house. Haldir looked at my expression and laughed. "Sorry, forgot you _are_ an elf." I widen my eyes and smacked him on the shoulder.

"Jerk," I said then started to laugh along with him. We stood in silence for a few moments sipping our tea until Haldir began to talk again.

"So, what are your plans for when I leave?" he asked. I sipped my tea once more before answering.

"I dunno yet," I said, "Probably just spend whatever time I can with Devon." Haldir raised his mug to his lips though raised an eyebrow at the mention of Devon's name. He thought for a moment before remembrance ran through his face.

"Oh, yeah," he said, "your paladin friend, right? The guy I met last year?" I nodded. "I remember him. Awesome guy. I really liked him. He was so nice and a lot of fun." I nodded again in agreement and took another swallow of my tea. "Yeah, I'm sure you guys will have fun together."

"Yeah," I said, "but he's going to be busy for most of the summer preparing for the school year. He just got an opened job at the school I teach." Haldir looked at me with a sort of surprised expression before he broke his gaze and looked off in thought. I bit my lip and looked down at the emptiness I didn't realize was there in my mug. I reached for the tea pot to refill my mug.

"Well," he suddenly said as I was in the middle of pouring myself some more tea, "the option of coming with me is still opened." I looked at him confused.

"But I thought you said there was something going on back in Lothiorien," I said. Haldir nodded and gave me a look that said 'yeah, what's your point?'. "I'm still allowed to come anyways?" Haldir nodded again and took the tea pot once I was done with it to fill his own mug with more tea. "Is that a wise idea?" He took a large swallow of the liquid in his mug before answering my question.

"Yes, Aiden," he said in a calm voice, "I can assure you it would be fine. I know what I said before, but to be honest, it really isn't a major issue that is going on at the moment. There has just been some talk about a long time enemy who we thought was dead actually being alive and trying to finish his work of whipping out all the elven kingdoms. But there has been no real proof that he is alive. Just rumors. Besides, there's no way he could ever even get _into_ Lothiorien much less whip out the elves in it even if he is." I bit my lip and thought about what he said.

"But if there's no proof he's alive and no way he could even get into Lothiorien, then why do you still have to go back so early?" I asked. Haldir sighed.

"Because Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel are a bit paranoid at just the thought that he may be alive and if he is, _then_ it would be a major issue and they will need me to make sure he doesn't try to come into Lothiorien and kill all the elves with in it. I am the march warden, after all." He said the last part in a modest tone, causing me to roll my ember eyes. I took a deep breath then released it. "So what do you think, Aiden? Would you like to come with me this time or still just want to hang around here?" It usually only took me a second to answer the same question Haldir asked me every summer, but this time I actually had to think about it. I still didn't like to travel and really didn't feel like going anywhere this summer. But if Haldir was going to leave early, then what was the point of sticking around? I know I still had Devon, but he was going to be busy preparing for the school year since it was his first year this fall. I sipped my tea again before I finally answered him.

"I'll think about it, Haldir."

**Here's the next chapter. Any thoughts on if Palladium will go to Middle Earth? Continue reading to find out! Please review as well.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3How Awkward (and Cruel) the Winds of Change Can Be**

"So, what movie do you wanna watch tonight?" I had to shout the question in order for Haldir to hear me from the second floor. I was in my bedroom sitting before my collection of movies. Maybe a handful of the 632 movies I owned were dramas while the rest were horror. Devon always tells me I must have every single horror film ever made, but I know for a fact that that's not true. What might be true is I have every single _good _horror film made. I also had all the movies that Tim Burton had either made or helped make and a few Jim Henson movies.

"You know, you do not have to shout," said Haldir as he came into my room and stood by my sitting form, "I can hear you just fine from the first floor." I bit my lip at his statement. Of course he could hear me just fine! I keep forgetting we elves have very good hearing. I shook my head then continued my search for a movie to watch.

"That may be so," I said not taking my eyes off the movies, "but you still haven't answered my question." Though I wasn't looking, I knew he rolled his eyes at that statement. I then heard him kneel down to the floor till he was at my level.

"Oh, I don't know, Aiden," he said as his eyes ran over the names of the movies, "you know I'm not good at this and really don't care what movie we watch. You pick the movie." I turned to face him and gave him a look of fake surprise.

"Are you sure you don't care about what we watch?" I asked, "didn't you learn your lesson the last time you had the same attitude and just let me pick out whatever movie?" He bit his lip and gave me a real confused look before letting his eyes wander off as he tried to remember. It didn't take him too long before he turned back to me with a sudden look of fear in his eyes. "Ahhh, are we remembering now?" He glared at that last sentence.

"Ok, I'll help you pick out the movie," he said as he turned back to the movies and began taking them off the shelf one by one to inspect them, "and we can watch anything but _that _movie." He looked at me with a hard look as he added the last part. I kept my look of fake confusion.

"And what movie might that be, my dear Haldir?" I ask innocently, "I seem to have forgotten the name of it." He harden his look even more which made me wanna laugh, but I kept a hold of the confusion and innocence so I could get what I wanted out of him.

"Oh, don't give me that," he replied in a harsh tone, "you know exactly what movie I'm talking about." I don't know how, but I was able to contain my laughter and keep the confused and innocent expression on my face. This must be one of my abilities as an elf.

"No," I said as I shook my head, "I'm afraid I really did forget the name. Will you please remind me what it was called so I know for sure not to pick it out?"

"Stop it, Aiden!" he said in an even harsh tone, though I could still make out the fear within his voice. "I'm _not _going to say the name of the movie when you know perfectly damn well what movie I'm talking about and what the name is!" I shrug and turned back to the movies. I heard him growl and mutter under his breath. I watched out of the corner of my eye him turn back to the movies to help continue the search as well. He thought it was over and I had given up. Oh, but I wasn't done yet. I smiled and began looking through my movies that were in alphabetical order until I came to the movies that started with 'I'. I scanned through the ten or twelve movies until I found the one I wanted and pulled it out. I chuckled softly as I read the title: _Insidious_.

"Is this the movie you're talking about, Haldir?" I asked and turned to show it to him. He turned without even thinking about it first and before he realized his mistake, it was too late; he saw the case and what the movie was. With a yelp, he jumped backwards about a good five inches away from me, looking at the movie case with widen eyes. Before I could help myself, I began laughing until I was all the way on the floor with tears running down my cheeks. I could easily hear Haldir's growling through my laughter, but it only made me laugh harder. I was finally able to stop laughing when I heard him stop growling. I sat up and whipped my eyes so I could see him better. He had a new look on his face, a look that made me give him a real look of confusion. A look that said 'oh well'. Why is he suddenly…?

"Ok, Aiden," he said as he held up his hands in defeat, "I guess we could watch that movie…" My look became more confused. What was he getting at? "…because then afterwards you get to have me as a bunk mate again!" The confusion was replaced with my own fear so fast, I'm sure it would have been funny to watch. I was so wrapped up in trying to make Haldir say the movie name and make fun of his fear of it that I forgot what he ended up doing after we had watched it. Because the movie had scared him so badly, he refused to sleep alone that night. And when I say sleep alone, I don't mean just sleep he slept in my room, he slept _in my bed_ with me. I don't understand how I could have forgotten that part. It was by far the worst night ever because he hogged everything there was to hog in a bed: the blankets, the pillows, and even the bed itself. How I didn't end up on the floor the next morning was beyond me. I sighed and gave Haldir a look of defeat before putting the movie back.

"Uh-huh," he said with a satisfied look, "that's what I thought. So, any other ideas on what we should watch?" It took a few minutes to go through my movies and decide what we were in the mood for, but finally we decided on the movie _Orphan. _We had both seen the movie before, but it had been a while since then and it was the only movie that really sounded good that night.

After the movie, Haldir and I walked upstairs to our bedrooms to change into our night clothing. Once I was in my bedroom, I walked over to my dresser and opened the top draw to take out a plain gray shirt and a pair of black sweat pants. Just as I was beginning to change, my cell phone rang and I looked to see who was calling. Because it was almost 11:00 PM, I could think of only one person it could be. When I saw the name on the caller ID, my thoughts were confirmed.

"Hey, Devon," I said once I answered, "what's up?"

"Hello, Palladium," his reply caught me off guard a bit. Never before has he ever called me by my last name. We had been friends for quite a long time and even in the beginning he didn't call me that. So why is he now? "I apologize for calling so late. I hope that I didn't wake you up." I felt my eyebrows raise in confusion at his sentence. Of course he didn't wake me up. I always stay up late with my friend Haldir during summer break. He should have know that. "Did I wake you up?" he asked after I didn't answer.

"What? Oh, no," I said quickly as I shifted my phone so it could be held by my shoulder while I busied my hands with dressing myself in my night clothing, "no, I was still up. Haldir and I finished watching a movie and just now we are getting ready for bed." He was quite for a moment before speaking again.

"I see," he said, "well, I know it might be a little late to be asking this, but I was just wondering if you would like to meet with me tomorrow."

"You finally wanna talk summer plans, huh?" I asked with a chuckle as I tried to ignore how weird he was acting. It was never late to call me for any plans he wanted to make. He could have called me at four in the morning and I still wouldn't care. Again, something he should have known. I had finally finished dressing and was now sitting on my bed.

"Well…" he trailed off a bit, unsure how to answer. I felt the confusion strike me again along with a bit of worry. What was going on with him? He knew he was going to call me either later today or tomorrow to met so we could talk out our summer plans, right? He said so himself. We talked about it not that long ago. "I was thinking we could just catch up a bit because we haven't seen each other in so long."

What? Did he just say catch up…? Ok, this was becoming way beyond weird.

"Devon," I said, trying to keep the worry in my voice hidden without much luck, "we saw each other last summer. That wasn't very long ago." I began to twirl a lock of my brown hair between my fingers, something I did when I became worried.

"Oh…oh, I know, Palladium," he said and I couldn't help but notice the way he covered up the fact that he didn't seem to know that we hung out last summer. I pretended not to notice this and the fact that he called me by my last name again while he went on. "but it seemed like a long time to me and I would really like having some time for us to just catch up." I bit my lip harder than what I expected to and was soon tasting blood. I was all for Devon just playing and kidding around, but this was actually starting to scare me. Not knowing what else to say, I finally just sighed and nodded.

"Ok, Devon," I said slowly, "where would you like to meet?"

"Oh…um…" he started, "well, why don't you pick. I really don't care." I almost dropped the phone when he said that sentence. Did he seriously just tell me to pick where we met? Now that was something he _never_ did. He always picked where we met and ate whenever we made plans because I was the one who never knew what to pick and never cared where we met or ate anyways. Due to both facts of being surprised by what Devon said and trying to figure out where to go, it took me a second to answer.

"Alright…hmmm…how about the Blue Mirror Café?" I asked, for that was one of our favorites and then I could get a Blue Razz and Apple cappuccino.

"Prefect," he said, "I'll meet you there at eleven o'clock, sound good?"

"Yep," I said, "I shall see you then. Bye." I waited for his goodbye, but all I heard was the clicking sound the phone makes when the other person has hung up. It took me a second to register what he had just done. He hung up the phone…without saying goodbye. After I recovered from the final shock that Devon caused me to go into that night, I sat my phone on my nightstand next to my bed and continued to play with the lock of my hair. What the hell was wrong with him? He was acting so strange. He seemed just fine the last time he called, so what was his problem? Is he okay? He's never acted like this. It was really starting to worry me.

"You seemed troubled, mellon-nin," the sound of Haldir's voice made me jump and I looked to find him standing in my doorway now dressed in dark gray sweatpants and a white t-shirt with a look of concern on his face. I let out a breath and shrugged.

"Do I?" I asked in a sarcastic voice as I started to get up and walk over to my dresser to grab a brush, "I haven't noticed." I began to brush out the lock of my hair that I was playing with because it was all tangled and in knots now. Through the mirror that was connected to my dresser, I saw Haldir walk further into my room and stand by me. I then felt his large hand on my shoulder.

"What's wrong, Aiden?" he asked me softly, "What happened?" I sighed and stopped brushing and turned to face him.

"That was Devon on the phone," I said softly and slowly. Haldir nodded and waited for me to continue. "He wants to meet me tomorrow at the Blue Mirror." Haldir smiled at this.

"Well, what's wrong with that?" he asked, "That sounds like good news to me. I love that place."

"That's not it," I said, "it was the reason he wanted to meet me." Haldir looked at me with confusion.

"What was the reason?" he asked.

"He said he wanted to catch up," I said as I started to walk over to my bed to sit down. Haldir followed me and sat across from me to face me. "He said it had been a while since we had seen each other and he wanted to catch up on what was going on." He gave me the same confused look I was wearing now.

"But…" he said while he tried to figure something out, "you guys saw each other last summer, right? I was with you guys when that happened. That wasn't very long ago, was it?" I shake my head. Haldir turned away from me and became lost in thought for a moment.

"That wasn't even the weirdest part, Haldir," I said and gained his attention back, "you should have heard the way he was talking. He sounded so…unlike himself. He even called me by my last name, which is something he has never done before. Hell, I forgot he even _knew_ my last name." More confusion fell upon Haldir's face when I said the last part.

"I know _I_ don't know your last name," he said slowly but then suddenly asked, "what is it?"

"My last name?" I asked him and he nodded, "Oh, it's Palladium." After I said that, Haldir changed his look. He looked at me with surprise and even confusion. Then he changed his look to what looked like he was trying to figure something out.

"Palladium?" he asked after a second, "like the metal?" I nodded and he became even more surprised. "So, your name is Aiden Palladium?" he asked after a second. I nodded.

"Yes," I said slowly, "Is there something wrong with that?" I asked as I raised my eyebrow in confusion at him. He gave me a quick look of defensive while he answered.

"Oh, no," he said quickly, "Nothing's _wrong _with that. It's just... funny. For some reason that name just really sounds familiar to me and I cannot figure out why it is or where I have heard it." With that he became lost in thought again as he turned his gaze away from me. Finally, after three minutes of trying to remember, he gave up and looked back at me.

"Well, I cannot remember where I have heard the name," he said with a given up look, "I suppose I could look it up when I get back to Lothiorien. Or maybe I could ask Lady Galadriel. I'm sure she would know." I gave him a look of confusion, but shrugged it off only after a second and said nothing more about the subject. We sat in silence for a few moments before he finally said something again.

"Are you going to go?" he asked with some concern in his voice, "To meet with Devon?" I bit my lip again. I really didn't want to go. Devon was acting really strange and I was afraid that he would be the same way, if not, worse when I went to meet him. But as much as I really didn't want to, I knew I would go in the end. I wasn't a rude person who said he would do something then doesn't do it. That wasn't me, no matter what.

"Yeah," I answered softly, "I'm gonna go. You don't mind waiting around the house for an hour or two do you?" He smiled and me and shook his head.

"Of course not," he said as he started to get up and leave the room, "Hey since you are going to the Blue Mirror, you wouldn't mind bringing me back one of those drinks and cakes I like so much from there, would you? I would really appreciate it if you did." I smile and nodded.

"You got it," I said, "Blue coconut and chocolate mocha and a strawberry swirl cheese cake, right?" He nodded as a boyish grim took over his lips.

"That sounds right to me," he said as he stood in the doorway but paused before leaving, "Oh, and Aiden? Don't worry about Devon. I'm sure he will be alright when you meet him tomorrow. Goodnight." With that, he closed the door and left. I sighed and snapped my finger which made the lights go out. I then got under my green colored blankets and laid my head down on the pillows.

I sure hope Devon will be alright, was the last thing that went through my mind as I fell asleep.

~THE NEXT MORNING~

It was almost ten when I looked at the clock on my phone after waking up. Almost ten when I woke up from another dreamless sleep night. I didn't question it and got up out of bed. I walked over to the closet and started to look for clothing to wear for the day. Since I was going out, I wanted something a little nicer but still comfortable. I finally decided on a pair of black jeans and my favorite hoddie that was an electric blue color. Once I had the clothing, I grabbed my phone and left my room for the bathroom. On the way, I past the guest bedroom. The door was closed; Haldir was still asleep. I reached the bathroom and turned on the shower. While waiting for the water to heat up, I brushed my teeth and brushed out the frizz in my hair the best I could. After that, I got into the spray of warm water.

It was almost ten-thirty when I looked at the clock on the stove in the kitchen. Almost ten-thirty when I was showered, dresses, and ready to go. I walked over to the closet that I kept my coats and shoes in and began to go through it until I had my brown worker boots and my dark brown light blazer. I throw them on my body and walked back to the kitchen to make a note for Haldir telling him were I had gone in case he forgot before I headed out the door that led to my garage. I opened the garage door and the light from the outside world reveled my transportation for here on Earth: a black Grandpre. I opened the driver side door and hopped into the driver's seat. I started the engine and pulled out of the garage and closed the door with a snap of my fingers; I had lost the button to do this a long time ago.

Like I really need it, right?

It took me about twenty minutes to get from where I live out in the woods to the town it was outside of. The radio clock read 10:35 when I got into it, then 10:55 when I reached town, and finally 10:58 when I reached the dark blue building that was known as the Blue Mirror Café. I parked along the side of the road in front of the café and easily saw Devon sitting inside the café at a table through the windows. He was dressed in a white suit, which confused me because like me, he liked to dress in jeans and a t-shirt during the summers. He only wore things like suits during the school year when he taught at the other school. Maybe when we went out to a nice restaurant or had a simple get together like this would he dress a little nicer, but by a little nicer I mean a pair of nice jeans and shirt, not a full blown out suit. I turned off my car and sighed. The clock read 11:00 when I finally got out of the car.

Let's get this over with.

Oh, what am I thinking? I thought while walking towards the café's door. Devon is my friend, my very good friend to say the least. He was probably just tired last night and that was why he was acting so strange. I'm sure he will be better today. And by better, I mean not acting like he was just getting to know me and needed reminding on half of the things we did together. I entered the café which had black and blue walls with mirrors all over them. Because the windows were letting in sunlight to light up the café, the lights weren't on. But when it was dark out and the lights were turned on, they would give off a bluish glow, which was why I usually preferred coming here at night. The casher, a short and skinny girl with blue streaks in her black hair by the name of Marianne, gave me a smile and a small wave of welcome as she recognized me. I smiled and waved back before walking over to the table Devon was sitting at. When he saw me, he smiled.

"Hello, Palladium," he said, his normal voice sounding just a bit dark which made me shiver a bit. "I'm so glad you could join me." I bit my lip as I took off my blazer and draped it over my chair before sitting down across from him. He was still calling me by my last name. It was almost as if he didn't know my first name. But that was just ridiculous…right?

"It's surely good to see you again, Devon," I said when I got over the shock of how he was still acting weird. "But you know you can call me Aiden, right? You don't have to keep calling me by my last name." He seemed a little taken back at my sentence, like he was nervous about something or like he didn't know that he could call me by my first name. But the look didn't stay long and he then wore a look of calm on his face; a look he normally wore.

"Yes, I do know this, Aiden," he said slowly, "I just wanted to be prepared for when I start my job at Alfea. I want to get use to calling you by your last name so when we go to work in the fall, it won't be so hard to do so and I won't accidentally call you by your first name and confuse the students." I nodded slowly after he told me this, though I was chuckling on the inside at how well he probably thought he covered up. This does make sense, but if he hadn't given me that look of nervousness before he said this to me, I would have believed him. Not to mention, this doesn't explain why he was acting so absent minded last night. I was about to say something to him when I saw Marianne coming over to our table with two blue coffee cups in her hands. She sat one down in front of me and I could see that the blue cup had black broken glass designs all over it.

"Here's your Blue Razz and Apple cappuccino, Aiden," she said to me before she sat the other down in front of Devon. "And here's your Carmel Macchiato, Devon." After she gave us our drinks, I immediately grabbed mine, thanked Marianne, and started to drink the sweet and sour drink I loved so much. But Devon didn't even touch his usual drink he loved so much. Instead, he turned to Marianne before she could leave and gave her a hard look. Before I could say anything or react, he spoke.

"Excuse me, but I didn't order this, young lady," he said in a cold voice, "you didn't even ask me what I wanted." Marianne looked at Devon with a confused and hurt expression while I almost spat out the swallow of my drink that was in my mouth. After I forcibly swallowed, I gave Devon a hard look of my own.

"Ummm Devon?" I said trying to keep the harshness out of my own voice as much as possible, "_Marianne_ always brings you this. This is what you always get here." After I said this, I noticed that Marianne had moved away from Devon and came over to stand by me or more like _behind_ me. I didn't need to look in order to know she still had the hurt and confused look upon her face, because Devon still had the hard look upon his face. Finally, he changed his expression and nodded.

"Oh, right," he said rather slowly, "my apologies." Marianne took this as a dismissal and left rather quickly to go grab our usual cakes. Devon then turned to me and his harden expression disappeared being replaced by his normal calm look. But that soon too disappeared and turned into a confused look when he saw I kept my harden look. He wasn't getting off this one that easy. There was no way in hell he could explain what had just happened. We have been coming to this café forever and Marianne knew us well enough to bring us our drinks. So what he did was crossing the line for me.

"What is wrong, Aiden?" he asked me in an innocent and confused voice.

"What the _hell_ was that?" I asked in a harsh whisper, "are you going to tell me that you forgot that we have been coming here ever since we've known each other and that you've gotten that drink every time so Marianne knows to bring it to you?" He seemed rather taken back by my harsh tone. Maybe even hurt, but at this point, I could have cared less. If this man in front of me had been the normal fun and loving Devon Avalon that I knew, then I would have felt bad for talking to him so harshly, but I don't think he was. After maybe three minutes of staring at each other he was about to say something in his defense I was guessing but I never heard it for Marianne had come back and had stopped him. She had two plates in her hands that had two kinds of cake on them. She sat one plate down in front of me first before she sat the other one down in front of Devon. The cake that was on my plate was an apple and blueberry swirl cheese cake with cinnamon crust. The one on Devon's plate was a white cake with caramel frosting on top of and in between it. Once again, I dug into my usual choice of what I got here while Devon just sat there looking at his in disgust. Before Marianne could leave again, Devon stopped her only this time he spoke with even more harshness and even louder than before.

"Alright, girl," he said in a loud harsh voice that made heads turn, "I don't know why you keep bring our stuff to us like you think you're a physic and know what we want, but I can guarantee you that I wasn't going to order this or what you brought me to drink. Now, either you will ask me what I want instead of guessing yourself or have someone else wait us, because I will not put up with your guessing game." I looked at Devon with widen eyes unable to take them away from him. He had such a look of hatred upon his face which was so unlike him. I was just coming out of it when I heard Marianne start to sniffle and then turn and run away towards the kitchen.

"Marianne!" I shouted after her, "Hon, please come back! He didn't mean it!"

"Oh, yes I did, Aiden," his cold voice filled me up with anger, "I meant every single word." I whipped my head around to face him. Not bothering to lower my voice this time, I spoke to him.

"What the _fuck_ is wrong with you?" I shouted turning even more heads, "Marianne wasn't playing any guessing game! She always brings us what she brings us because we always _get_ it! If you had wanted something different, then you could have told her ahead of time when you came in or you could have told her in a nice way instead of being a total jackass to her!" Devon watched how I was acting with a calmed though cold expression.

"Oh, calm down, Aiden," he said, "you're making a total scene out of nothing." Oh, that was the very last straw.

"Making a scene?" I ask him, "I'm making at total scene? How _dare_ you say that to me after what you just did to our _friend_…a _waitress_ in front of everybody. Do you think you were any quieter? You shouted at her in front of everybody for no reason whatsoever. And if you don't think that's anything, then you are completely jacked up in the head. I don't know what the hell your problem is today, but I've had enough of it." I grabbed my coffee cup and my blazer and walked over to the cash register, ignoring the people who were staring and whispering. I was in no mood to give a shit. I reached the register and asked Casey, another guy I knew who worked there with blond hair, if Marianne was ok. He said she would be, but that didn't calm me as much as I wanted. But I had to get out of there, so I asked for a Blue Coconut and Chocolate mocha and a strawberry swirl cheese cake for Haldir, because even though he didn't say it, I knew he would kill me if I didn't come back with them. After that, I paid for both his and my stuff, and left telling Casey to tell Marianne I was sorry for what had happened. I left without even looking at Devon.

I couldn't look at that man without wanting to kill him.

When I got home, I was still pissed off. So pissed off I wanted to kill something. It was a good thing I got myself away from the person that I really wanted to kill. I sat Haldir's stuff and my own on the island in the kitchen before heading up stairs to my room. On the way to the stairs, I passed my living room where Haldir was sitting and reading.

"Oh, hello, Aiden," he said giving me a surprised look, "you are home earlier than I expected. How was the cafe?" I didn't answer him. I was too angry to answer or even acknowledge him. When I walked up the stairs, I heard Haldir close his book and get up from the couch he was sitting on to follow me. He could tell something was up. "Mellon-nin, what is the matter? What happened? Aiden? _Aiden?_" He followed me until I reached my room which I entered and slammed the door shut behind me. I was pretty sure I slammed it shut in Haldir's face, because I heard Haldir breathing behind it. He stayed there for a moment before he walked away, probably knowing he had to give me space. I took off my blazer and shoes before I laid down on my bed. It was here that I realized that Devon's behavior was not only angering me, it was scaring me. What the hell was wrong with him? Why was he acting like this? I knew he wasn't just playing around because he would never ever ever _ever _talk the way he did to Marianne. Never. I sighed and laid my head down on the soft pillows suddenly exhausted both emotionally and even physically. I closed my eyes and before long, I was out.

**Dramatic moment. Any guesses as to what's up with Avalon? Also, the scene where Aiden is teasing Haldir with the movie Insidious actually came from me making fun of my mom for it. **

**Hahahaha**

**To those of you who were afraid of that movie, I do apologize. It didn't scare me due to the fact that I saw the Grudge when I was eight and now nothing scares me.**

**Please Review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4A Change in Plans**

_I am under the waterfall. I just finished washing my body so I step under the fall of warm water to rise my body off before jumping into the warmth of the pond water and swimming to the ledge where my clothing was waiting for me. I get out of the water and ring the water out of my brown hair before I get dressed. But something else happens before I could get dressed. I had just started to reached for my clothing when a shadow loomed over me and caused me to stop. One would have thought I felt fear in my heart because an intruder to my forest had not only found me, but had found me naked, but I felt no such thing. Unlike all the other unwelcomed visitors that my forest had gotten over the years I have been here, I knew who this person was and knew they were no threat to me or my forest…it was _him_. The man that always watched me while he hid in the trees. I lifted my head and found myself staring into the most lovely shade of blue eyes I have ever seen. His long blond hair still shone like silver in the sunlight and gently floated around in the air; his pointed ears could easily be seen from behind the flowing, silver strains. He was dressed in a green tunic and brown leggings with rider's boots. He studied me for a moment before a smile appeared upon his handsome face. When I smiled back, he reached for my hand and I willingly gave him it so he could helped me up to my feet. As I stood naked before him, he let his hand wander to my face and gently stroke my cheek. I closed my eyes to enjoy this before I felt him cup my chin in the same hand and make me look at him in the eyes. Sky blue met forest brown before he brought my face closer to his. I closed my eyes and leaned forward along with the hand until I felt his warm, soft lips gently press themselves against mine. We kissed gently at first, like we were both unsure, but this only lasted for a few seconds before we deepened it to a passion state. He smelled like the forest just after a long rain and even tasted as sweet. I felt his cool arms gently wrap themselves around my waist that was still warm from the pool water. Not too long after did I wrap my own around his neck, pressing him deeper into our kiss, tasting him even more._

_I don't think I have ever felt so safe or loved in my entire life…_

I woke up slowly; my eyes gently opened when I realized I was awake. Once they were opened, I let my eyes wander around my surroundings to figure out where I was. Because it was dark, it took me a second to figure out where I was; I was in my bedroom. I slowly sat up in my bed and found I was still fully dressed and on top of the covers. Through my window above my bed the outside world was starting to give in to the evening. I bit my lip when I slowly started to remember what had happened before I passed out. I guess the whole drama with Devon just proved to me how tired I must have been. How long did I sleep for? I reached for my phone that was in the pocket of my blazer that was thrown on the floor and read the time on it. 5:34 PM read the numbers on my phone. I remembered it was almost twelve-thirty when I came home, so I counted the hours I had been asleep until I had the time it was now. I ended up with six. I had slept for six hours.

I guess I was way more tired than I thought I was.

My thoughts then wandered to the dream I had woken from. The man…no…the _elf_ with blond hair, the elf I had seen so many times before but never understood his presence, had kissed me. This was the first time we have ever kissed. A tone of thoughts began going through my mind, but none of them I could hold onto long enough to register them. A sudden thought then came into my mind. Maybe this elf…wasn't real. Maybe he was just a fantasy that I had created in my subconscious. My mind then wandered to the memories and how I had seen him. No, he was real or else I wouldn't be having memories so vivid about him. So then, who was he? Could he be someone from my past? There was a lot about my past that I would like to know about as well: who my parents were, where they are now, why I can't remember them or really anything else besides the past ten years of my life, this forest I always dreamed about, and this elf…

*KNOCK KNOCK*

A soft knocking at my door broke me from my thoughts. I turned to my door.

"Aiden?" I heard Haldir's voice from the other side of the door, "I heard you moving around, so I figured you were awake. My I come in?" Just like that, the memories from today and what happened that caused me to go into my room and pass out in the first place began to re-flooded my mind. I got up from my bed and went over to open the door. There in its place stood the march ward of Lothiorien, a look of worry could be easily seen over his face. I sighed and tried my best to smile.

"Hey," I said softly, "I'm sorry for what happened earlier. I wasn't mad at you. I just couldn't really talk to anyone at the moment. I need some time to calm down." He nodded and slowly put a hand on my shoulder. I responded by throwing myself into his arms completely. He made no hesitation to hug me back, maybe even tighter than what I was now. I don't know why, but I suddenly felt like crying. Just remembering what Devon, one of my best friends and one of the nicest guys I've ever known, had done now made me want to cry. I really wished I knew what was wrong with him and why he was acting the way he was. I sighed and squeezed Haldir one more time before I pulled away to look at him once again.

"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Haldir softly. I looked at him for a few seconds before shaking my head. "Okay, then maybe later. You seemed like you just went through a terrible shock." I laughed at that sentence.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a shock…" I said as I turned on the light in my room and walked back into it. "It was more like a emotional breakdown." I sat down on my bed and waited till Haldir came into my room and sat down on the bed with me. "So, what have you been doing while I was out?"

"Oh, just reading some books," he answered, "and I also took a walk in the woods for a little bit." I nodded before I remembered something.

"Did you get your mocha and cheese cake I got you?" I asked and he nodded.

"Yes, I did," he said, "thank you so much. I actually forgot how much I love the taste of that mocha and that cake. If there's one thing humans can do good here, it's make a damn good drink and sweet cake." We both laughed at his statement before he went silent.

"So, I know you said you did not want to talk about it," said Haldir slowly, "but I just want to know this and only this at the moment." He looked at me for my approval first before continuing. "Was it Devon?" I sighed slowly then nodded. Haldir seemed to let out a sort of low growl after I nodded my head. I looked at him with widen eyes, for I don't think I have ever heard him growl before. When his eyes met mine, he suddenly looked apologetic. "Sorry." I shrugged.

"Hey, a while ago," I said, " I'm pretty sure I could have been doing the same thing." We both started to laughed again until I felt my stomach let off a growl of its own. I hadn't eaten anything really that day, so it didn't surprise me that I was hungry. Haldir must have heard it too, because he stopped laughing and looked at me with widen eyes of his own.

"Hungry?" he asked me. I nodded. "Then why don't we go get something to eat. Get your mind off trouble for a little bit." I nodded again at the plan.

Yeah, go and get something to eat…that sounded good.

About half an hour later, I found myself sitting across from Haldir in one of our favorite restaurants and a dance club called The Kuroneko. 'Kuroneko', when translated from Japanese, means 'black cat' but other than the fact that the inside of the place was the color black from the walls all the way to the furniture and anything else, I have no idea why they called it that. They didn't serve Japanese food either, so it wasn't a Japanese restaurant. I guess the name just sounded cool to the owners. Though the music was loud, I was still able to hear Haldir's voice as we talked about the songs that were being played like how good the songs were and who sang them and which songs were the best to dance with and so on. Before our food came, a really good dancing song came on and Haldir somehow made me go out on the dance floor and dance one of my famous dances to the song. While I like to think it was because of the song that was playing (_In My Dreams_ by Dokken), I think the real reason I agreed to go out on the floor and dance was because I still needed to get my mind off of what happened earlier that day with Devon. It was also there on the dance floor that the idea came into my head; an idea that I never thought I would end up doing. When the song ended and I stopped dancing, I had a circle of watches around me clapping and the idea still in my head, so I walked back over to the table where Haldir sat after bowing to the people on the dance floor who were applauding my dance. I sat down across from Haldir and before he could say anything regarding my dance, I spoke.

"Haldir," I said looking him in the eyes, "I would like to go to Lothiorien with you." His face went from excited and happy to surprised and shocked. He froze for a moment, like he was still registering what it was that I had just said. He looked at me like this for about a minute before he finally said something.

"You want to _what_?" he asked, still unsure he heard me correctly.

"I want to go to Lothiorien with you," I said much slower and louder than before. Haldir seemed to have understood me that time because before long, a new look of excitement washed away the surprise from his face.

"You mean it?" he asked unable to contain the excitement from his voice, "you really want to come with me?" I nodded and that just seemed to make him happier. But then his face turned to confusion after he seemed to have thought of something. "Whatever made you change your mind?" I think he already knew the answer to that question. I didn't want to be here. Haldir wasn't going to stay the whole summer and Devon was being a total jackass, so the way I see it now, there was no reason to stick around.

Hell, just the plan fact of Devon's strange and cruel behavior was enough to get me into a traveling mood.

"Because I see no real reason to stick around, Haldir," I said slowly, "You're leaving after only the month and I'm in no mood to deal with anymore drama I'm sure I'll have with Devon. So…why not tag along? I've always wanted to see Lothiorien anyways and now I have the perfect reason to do so." The confusion soon melted away and was soon replaced by the excited look he had given me before.

"Well, this is by far the best thing ever," he said, "really and truly I never thought I would ever get you to finally come with me. I cannot tell you how happy and excited this makes me, mellon-nin." I smiled and nodded. Right about now, our food had come, so we put the traveling talk aside so we could eat and then maybe dance a bit more before we went home. A meal and four dances later, we were in my black car and on the road heading back to my house. This is where we picked up the Lothiorien talk again.

"So, when would you like to leave?" asked Haldir once we were out of town. "Do you want to stay for the rest of the month or do you want to leave now?" I took a deep breath.

"When you say 'leave now'," I said without looking at him, "do you mean as in now 'tonight' or as in now 'tomorrow'?"

"Well, now as in 'tomorrow'," he said in a little confused tone. "A little late to go tonight, don't you think?" I paused at the question to think about it, then looked at the radio clock before I laughed. The numbers read 9:56 PM.

Yeah, it was defiantly a little late to go. I must have really wanted to leave more than I thought.

"Yeah, you're right," I said after I laughed, "it is a little late to go now. Besides, I'm not even packed yet. Can we go tomorrow?" I looked at Haldir real quick when I asked the question though I turned my head back as soon as I saw his face and knew he heard me.

"I don't see why not," he said, "if you really don't think there's any reason to stick around, then yes I'm sure we can." I smiled at his reply. When we got back to my house, he followed me into my room and I grabbed the suit case that I used to travel to Alfea with and began to go through my closet of summer clothing. It was right around here, that Haldir stopped me.

"I don't think you have to worry about packing any clothing," he said, "I'm sure we can get you some clothing that is more appropriate when we get there." I looked at him with a confused look. But then I remembered the clothing he always arrived in and what he said soon made sense. I ended my search for clothing to pack and put away my suit case since I had no real use for it. After I did this, Haldir smiled at me and walked over to my movie collection.

"Since this will be our last night here," he said as he began to scan the movies, "why don't we watch more than one movie tonight? I'm sure we have the time, for it is only ten." I smiled and walked over to pick out our movies for the night.

"What should we watch?" I ask as I helped with the search.

"Something we have not seen in a while," he answered not taking his eyes off the movies, "and something I have not seen yet. Oh, and if we have time, something that is not scary." I guess I couldn't blame him for wanting the last kind, cause it has been forever since we've actually watched a non horror movie and I did own quite a few of them. After about twenty minutes of careful debating and selecting, we finally had the three movies we wanted: something we haven't seen in a while-_Thirteen Ghosts_, something Haldir hadn't seen yet- _House on Haunted Hill_, and something that wasn't scary-_Labyrinth_ (yes, the Jim Henson's _Labyrinth_. I also had two more of his movies: _The Dark Crystal_ and _Mirror Mask_. Though they aren't scary, they are fantastic pieces of work). We watched all three movies and by the time we were through, it was almost two o'clock in the morning. We got through _Thirteen Ghosts _pretty good because Haldir had seen it and it was one of our favorites, but when we got to _House on Haunted Hill_, he covered his eyes with his hands out of fear maybe a total of three times; that was better than what he did in Insidious, though. Plus, he didn't shout either during this movie. Though he was still a little shook up after it (I think it was the beginning where the doctors were starting to dissect a patient while he was still conscience that really got to him) he calmed down when we started on _Labyrinth_ and was much better after it.

Thank God, I thought I was going to have to share my room again that night.

After we had finished the last movie, we walked to my room and talked real quick about what was going to happen the next day before Haldir left for his own room.

"When we get up," he explained as I grabbed clothing to sleep in, "we will go into the woods where I meet Gandolf the White, the wizard that helps me travel through dementions, and summon him so he can take us to Middle Earth."

"That's all there is to it?" I asked as I changed into my bed clothing.

"Yep," he answered, "and best of all, we don't have to wake up so early. We can just leave when we are up and ready." I smiled at that and walked over to my bed.

"Ok," I said, "sounds like plan. So let's get some sleep now so hopefully the time we are ready won't be four o'clock in the afternoon." Haldir laughed at my statement and started heading out of the door.

"Goodnight, mellon-nin," he said as he stood in the doorway.

"G'night, mellon-nin," I said back before he closed the door. I snapped my fingers and the lights were turned out. Once my room was in the familiar, comfortable darkness, I got under the green blankets of my bed and was soon sound asleep.

**Surprise Surprise! Aiden has decided to go to Middle Earth. How do you think that will turn out?**

**Please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Well, it was a pain in my ass, but I finally have it: the fifth chapter that I have been trying to write and get done. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I just haven't been in the right mood recently to write. I hope I will have the next chapter up before I have to start school, but I am making no promises.**

**In case you are unsure about what 'mellon-in' means, it means my friend in elvish. I kept forgetting to share that, sorry.**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 5 The White Wizard and The Elven City**

_I am back in the arms of the elf. Our kiss is still strong as ever, like it had never ended. We are like this for another minute before something catches my sense of smell. I inhale deeply and I soon recognize the smell as the smell of burning smoke. I open my eyes and look behind the elf to find myself fully dressed and standing before the outside of the forest. The forest, my forest, my only home, was on fire. I fall down to my knees before the flames, hot tears ran down my cheeks and loud, shrill screams pour out of my mouth uncontrollably. I scramble in a poor attempt to get to my feet, but find myself only able to crawl towards my lovely forest. I wanted to save it. I _had_ to save it. It was the only thing I had left. It was my only home. I am almost in the burning woods when two strong arms wrap themselves around me and pull me back away from the flames; away from my forest. I scream and cry and beg to be let go, but the arms don't surrender, they pull me closer and closer till I am leaning against the owner. The owner was the elf I had kissed. His lovely blue eyes were no longer filled with the love I once saw, but fear and disbelief at what was happening to the forest. While his eyes never part from the burning woods, he pulls me closer to him to keep me from going anywhere. I keep fighting uselessly against the strong arms until they have pulled me into a complete embrace and I am leaning against his chest. He still smelled like the forest after a rain and it wasn't long before it over took my senses and replaced the burning smell. Once this happened, I gave up struggling and buried my face into his chest completely and slump in his arms, crying my eyes out and screaming my throat raw…_

*Aiden?*

I wake up to the sound of my name and open my eyes. When I did, I soon found myself staring into the deep gray eyes of Haldir. I blinked a couple of times to wake myself up from the dream before I spoke.

"What's up, Haldir?" I asked in a sleepy voice as I rubbed my eyes and stretched my limbs to wake up the rest of my body. "Is it time to go already?" Once I had finished my stretching and rubbing, I was able to see the concern in the gray eyes of my friend that I missed when I first woke up. That can't be good.

"Mellon-nin," he said in a worried voice, "I'm afraid we have a problem." I sat up, now fully awake and seeing that he was dressed in his elven clothing.

"What is the matter?" I asked as I started to get out of bed, "did something happen?" Haldir looked worried at me for a few moments before responding.

"Remember that talk about the long-time enemy who we thought might still be alive after we all thought he was dead?" he asked rather slowly. I nodded, my eyes were widening for I knew what was coming. "Well, I just received word that he _is _alive. I am needed back in Middle Earth right now." I didn't even respond to that. I had no idea how to respond. The greatest fear of my friend had come to be true. What could I do? What could I say? 'I'm sorry that your greatest fear came to pass'? We sat in silence for a few minutes before I finally found my voice again.

"So, what do we do now?" I asked slowly. Haldir gave me a stern looked.

"_We _don't do anything, _I _am going home to help my people and keep that bastard out of Lothiorien," he said as he stood up from my bed, "Gandolf is already waiting for me downstairs, and I am going to Middle Earth _alone_." He started to walk out of my bedroom. I followed him out into the hallway where I grabbed his shoulder and twirled him around to face me.

"Do you honestly think," I said in my most menacing voice, "that I'm going to just stay behind and let you handle this by yourself? What kind of friend would I be if I just let you do this alone?" Haldir gave me the most surprised look I have ever seen on him. Due to the shock from seeing me so serious than he has ever seen me, it took him a bit to answer.

"You are not a part of this, Aiden," he said softly, "I can't ask you to come and help me if it meant you were risking your life. What kind of friend would _I _be if I let you come and then get killed?" I kept my amber eyes in contact with his gray eyes. I wanted him to understand that I didn't care what the consequences would be. I didn't care that this could cost me my life. I wasn't going to let Haldir face this alone.

That's not how friends are. They stick together no matter _what_.

"I am going with you, Haldir," I said softly and slowly, "I am going to help you whether you want it or not. I will _not _abandon my friend in his time of need." Again, he was thrown into shock and also defeat. He knew he was cornered. He knew he couldn't stop me from coming. When I had my mind set on something, I stuck with it until I had done it or had gotten it. Knowing that I had won from the look in his eyes, I let out a heavy sigh and walked around him.

"So," I said as I started for the stairs, "did I hear you mention that the wizard, Gandolf, is here?" I started down the stairs before Haldir could reply. I went into the living room and sure enough found a tall, elderly man clocked completely in white robed with long, white hair and a long white beard. He held a white staff that was a few inches shorter than him and had a sort of cage like design at the top. When he saw me, he gave me a kind smile, though I could see some confusion in his blue eyes.

"You are Haldir's friend, Aiden," he said in a sweet deep voice, "am I correct?" I smiled and nodded. He came over to me and reached out his hand to me. I gladly took it and found his hand was very warm. "It is an honor to finally meet the march warden's famous friend."

"The honor is all mine," I said, "It is nice to finally meet you too."

"Gandolf," Haldir's voice came up from besides me, "my friend wishes to come with us to Middle Earth. He says he wants to help with the issue of the dark elf." I turned to look at Haldir when he was finished speaking. He had a look on his face that told me he was hoping Gandolf would not want me to come along and not allow it. I turned back to the white wizard to see what he had to say. He was staring at me with his blue eyes, which still had a rather surprised look within them. They ran over my entire being, as if they were trying to figure something out. Or like they were studying me. Though his eyes still held surprise, for some reason it didn't seem to be about the fact that I wanted to come. It seemed to be about something else…but what? I couldn't put my finger on it. He observed me with his eyes for a minute before he looked me in my own eyes. When this happened, he smiled at me with some sort of satisfaction. But this only lasted for a minute before he spoke.

"Well then," he said in his deep voice, "if he wishes to come along to help in our time of need, the come he shall." I smiled and let out a laugh of excitement. I reached to grab the wizard's hand and hold it tightly.

"Oh, thank you," I said, "thank you so much. I will not let you down." Gandolf smiled at me and held my hand tightly as well.

"I know for a fact that you shall not fail us, my Lord," he whispered in a voice that only I could hear. I looked at him with a stunned look. He gave me one last smile and a wink before he released my hand and walked around me towards Haldir. I bit my lip and stood in silence for a moment. Though I could hear Haldir and Gandolf (or more like Haldir) arguing in another room, I paid no attention to anything but what the wizard said to me.

My Lord? Did he just call me…my Lord?

Why on earth would he call _me _such a thing? I was no Lord. I was only a teacher at a college for fairies and an elf who lived on Earth. I sighed slowly and deeply. Maybe he didn't really mean anything by it. Maybe he just called me that because I was a friend of the March warden. That had to be it, right? Right. I broke myself from my trance and turned around to head into the room in which the wizard and the warden were in. I could already hear Haldir's voice when I had snapped out of it and could now tell what they were talking about.

"Gandolf, you cannot be even considering allowing Aiden to come with us!" shouted the low voice of my friend. "He will surely get killed by Lucian!"

"I understand your concern, March warden," came the calm reply from Gandolf, "but you must realize that because the dark elf is alive, you will not be able to stand against him alone. You need help now more than ever. Where ever you can get it. Aiden can give you the help that no one else will want to give you and the help that you will need."

"But…what if he…" Haldir was unable to finish the question, but Gandolf seemed to have the answer to it.

"Oh, I think you will have nothing to fear on that," he replied with reassurance, "Aiden has powers. Strong powers that no elf has ever possessed in thousands of years: the power of Nature. I could sense them when he was before me. With these powers he will be not only safe from Lucian's evil, but he will be the key in the protection of Lothiorien, Rivendell, and all the other elven cities and Lucian's defeat. We must let him come, Haldir. We will need all the help we can get." I was standing on the outside of the kitchen in which Haldir and Gandolf were in and watched them discuss the situation. Haldir was facing towards me while Gandolf had his back towards me. Haldir no longer had the furious look upon his face like he did before, but a softer look of concern and fear. In all the years I have known him, I have never once seen such fear on his face or even in his eyes. Never. He was clearly afraid of me getting killed by this dark elf. Well, then I was just going to have to make sure I didn't get killed.

Simple enough, right?

"Alright," Haldir finally said after a few moments of silence, "he shall come along." I felt a smile creep upon my face and went into the kitchen and took Haldir into my arms. I had caught him by surprise and could feel him tense up before relaxing into my embrace and returning it.

"Thank you, Mellon-in," I said, "I promise to help in anything I can and not to let you down." We hugged for a minute before I heard Gandolf speak.

"Well, then, Mellon-ins," he said as we broke our hug and faced the white wizard who held up his staff, "if you are ready, then I do believe it is time to return to Middle Earth. Are you both ready?" Haldir and I both nod our heads. "Good, then let us go now." He said a few words in a foreign tough and the top of his staff started to glow. The glow grew brighter and brighter and brighter until the whole room was covered in the light. I couldn't see a thing nor could I feel anything happening. Unable to stand the light anymore, I closed my eyes tightly.

It took three minutes for the light to subside and when it did, I could tell even without opening my eyes that I was no longer in my house. The smell was a thick and sweet forest smell and the air was warm in a way that my house could never be. Sounds of birds and leaves filled my ears. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. I found myself standing on the outskirts of a forest with the most tallest trees I had ever seen. While I couldn't see the tops of these giant trees, I could see other things in them. I could see stairs, lights, plat forms, and many figures walking along the stairs and plat forms. The whole thing was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. Even more beautiful than the forests outside of Magix and Alfea. I looked beside me and saw Haldir was smiling at me. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"I've been waiting a long time to finally say this, mellon-in," he said slowly and with excitement. "Aiden, welcome to Caras Galadhon, the elven city of Lothiorien." I was lost for words. This was Lothiorien; this was the place that was always a mystery to me. The place that I was never able to find in books anywhere. The place Haldir always invited me to go to…and the place I always turned down the offer of coming to.

Damn, was I ever an idiot.

This place is beautiful beyond words. I thought they couldn't get as lovely as the forests of Magix and Alfea. And yet here I was, standing on the outside of a forest that made all the others look like shit. I hated to admit it, but it was true. No other forest could live up to this beauty. At least, no other forest that I have ever seen. We stand outside this forest for a few more minutes before I heard a voice besides me and made me jump in surprise.

"Haldir, I do believe that we should take your guest up to your talan to give him a proper change in clothing before taking him to meet the Lord and Lady." I looked at Gandolf with widen eyes. See the Lord and Lady?

"Of course, Gandolf," said Haldir, "I do hope you are not afraid of heights, Aiden. Because we have to go a long way up." I nodded slowly and followed Haldir up the stairs. No, I wasn't afraid of heights believe it or not. But what was starting to bother me was the long climb we had to do. After we reached a plat form that held what I believed to be Haldir's living quarters, we were what seemed like thousands of feet in the air. But it was easy not to long down because many other sites in the trees kept my attention. All of the bluish lights and decorations of the plat forms where enough to keep me from looking down. While I didn't fear heights, I did get a little dizzy from looking down so far.

When we reached Haldir's talan, he opened the huge wooden door for me and beckoned me inside. There wasn't much to the talan; there was a small sitting area that had wooden floors and a couple pieces of furniture that were the colors of the forest. Against the wall were three more wooden doors that were similar to the outside one only smaller. Bedrooms, I was guessing. Though it was rather small, it was still rather lovely and homey while the smallness just made it cozier.

"I understand that it's a little small," said Haldir as he came inside and closed the door behind him. "but it's just me and my brothers who live here. None of us are married and not to mention we usually don't spend a ton of time at home but at the borders." I looked around while he spoke before turning to look at him.

"I love it, Haldir," I said, "I think it's rather cozy." He smiled at me a lovely smile before he led me to one of the three doors that was farthest to the right. He opened it and my thoughts were confirmed; I was soon standing in a larger room with tall windows without glass, a queen sized bed dressed in white bedding, a large dresser made from white wood, and a nightstand that stood by the bed. Haldir walked over to the dresser and opened the bottom draw and began to go through the clothing that was hidden within it.

"This is my room, Aiden," he said as he worked on his search, "I hope you don't mind bunking with me for a while. But I don't know where else to put you just yet and the couch isn't the most comfortable thing in the world. I understand the last time we slept in the same bed wasn't the best," he looked at me with a sheepish smile, "but this bed is a bit bigger, so we shouldn't have that same problem." He resumed his search until he finally found what he was looking for and held them up for me to see. It was a pair of gray leggings. "You're lucky I never got rid of my old clothing from when I was younger," he said while he tossed me the leggings. He then went to the top draw and began to go though that one. "because I don't think any of my clothing that I wear now would fit you. Tomorrow we shall go to the tailor and have some clothing made for you. But she will not be in at the moment and we have to take you to see the Lord and Lady tonight." I held my breath with the thought of seeing them as I took off my sweatpants and replaced them with the leggings.

"Will they like me being here?" I asked in a tensed voice. Haldir finally found another piece of clothing and closed the drawer and started walking over to me. He handed me the clothing which was a silvery white tunic that was similar to the one he had on now, only it was smaller. He helped me get it on and showed me how to tie the leggings.

"I have a feeling that Lady Galadriel knew you would come no matter what," answered Haldir as he moved to the floor and look under the bed, "and I think Lord Celeborn will be happy to have more help, so I don't think he'll be too upset." Haldir felt around under his bed until he pulled out to boots that looked like they went up to the knees. He stood from the floor and helped me put on and lace the boots. After I was fully dressed, he stood back to admire me.

"Not bad," he said, "certainly better than what I was expecting that's for sure. You look really nice in white, Aiden. We'll have to get some clothing for you in that color. Here, take at look." He beckoned me to a tall mirror that was next to his window. I gasped quietly and smiled at the elf in the reflection. I looked like some sort of prince or warrior. I had to laugh at myself. Haldir was right; I did look good in white. It brought out my tan and the brown of my hair and eyes. Haldir moved behind me with a brush and started brushing my hair. About five minutes later, he had my frizzy hair pulled back into two braids on my sides that came together in a larger braid behind me.

"Ok, turn and let me see you," he said and I obeyed. He studied my look for a few moments before he finally seemed satisfied. "Alright, I think you're ready to me the Lord and Lady of Lothiorien." I put on my happy face and followed Haldir out of the bedroom and out of the talan and up more stairs towards another plat form that seemed to be the highest one. Though I seemed happy on the outside, I was downright nervous on the inside. I was about to met the people who ruled this lovely forest. The people who ruled Haldir. Oh, I hoped they liked me. Oh, I hoped I wouldn't seem too much or better yet at all seem like a nervous wreck. Oh, I hope I won't screw this up with my usual clumsiness charm.

If only my students, the other teachers, and Devon could see me now. That is, if Devon wasn't the jerk he was when I left him. I sighed and pushed him out of my mind. He wasn't here and he wasn't going to ruin this moment. I wasn't going to let anything ruin this moment right now.

**So what do you think? Lots of things going on. The enemy that they were talking about isn't Sauron, (sorry to those who hoped it was) but an enemy of the elves. He will be explained in the further chapters, so I will not spoil anything by telling you who he is.**

**The enemy is alive, Aiden still goes to Middle Earth only this time to help, and Gandolf just called him 'my lord'. Any thoughts as to what is to come? Please review and tell me!**

**Till next time;)**


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